This Week’s Awesome Tech Stories From Around the Web (Through December 13)

Every week, we scour the web for important, insightful, and fascinating stories in science and technology.

SingularityHub Staff

Dec 13, 2025

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Artificial Intelligence

OpenAI Releases GPT-5.2 After ‘Code Red’ Google Threat AlertBenj Edwards | Ars Technica

"OpenAI says GPT-5.2 Thinking beats or ties 'human professionals' on 70.9 percent of tasks in the GDPval benchmark (compared to 53.3 percent for Gemini 3 Pro). The company also claims the model completes these tasks at more than 11 times the speed and less than 1 percent of the cost of human experts."

Robotics

1X Struck a Deal to Send Its ‘Home’ Humanoids to Factories and WarehousesRebecca Szkutak | TechCrunch

"The company announced a strategic partnership to make thousands of its humanoid robots available for [its backer] EQT’s portfolio companies on Thursday. ...This deal involves shipping up to 10,000 1X Neo humanoid robots between 2026 and 2030 to EQT’s more than 300 portfolio companies with a concentration on manufacturing, warehousing, logistics, and other industrial use cases."

Computing

China Launches 34,175-Mile AI Network That Acts Like One Massive SupercomputerGayoung Lee | Gizmodo

"Last week, state-run Science and Technology Daily reported the launch of the Future Network Test Facility (FNTF), a giant distributed AI computing pool capable of connecting distant computing centers. The high-speed optical network spans across 40 cities in China, measuring at about 34,175 miles (55,000 kilometers)—enough to circle the equator 1.5 times, according to the South China Morning Post."

Robotics

Aurora Will Have ‘Hundreds’ of Driverless Trucks on the Road by the End of 2026, CEO SaysAndrew J. Hawkins | The Verge

"Urmson says he expects 'thousands' of trucks on the road within the next two years. 'It’ll be a little less visceral, because it’s not a consumer-facing product,' he says. 'But in terms of the expansion, I think we’ll start to see that happen pretty quickly.'"

Future

This Incredible Map Shows the World’s 2.75 Billion BuildingsJesus Diaz | Fast Company

"From the latest skyscraper in a Chinese megalopolis to a six‑foot‑tall yurt in Inner Mongolia, researchers at the Technical University of Munich claim they have created a map of all buildings worldwide: 2.75 billion building models set in high‑resolution 3D with a level of precision never before recorded."

Computing

AI Hackers Are Coming Dangerously Close to Beating HumansRobert McMillan | The Wall Street Journal ($)

"Artemis found bugs at lightning speed and it was cheap: It cost just under $60 an hour to run. Ragan says that human pen testers typically charge between $2,000 and $2,500 a day. But Artemis wasn’t perfect. About 18% of its bug reports were false positives. It also completely missed an obvious bug that most of the human testers spotted in a webpage."

Energy

Overview Energy Wants to Beam Energy From Space to Existing Solar FarmsTim De Chant | TechCrunch

"The startup plans to use large solar arrays in geosynchronous orbit about 22,000 miles above Earth where satellites match the planet’s rotation—to harvest sunlight. It will then use infrared lasers to transmit that power to utility-scale solar farms on Earth, allowing them to send power to the grid nearly round the clock."

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Tech

Why the AI Boom Is Unlike the Dot-Com BoomDavid Streitfeld | The New York Times ($)

"Much of the rhetoric about a glorious world to come is the same [as the dot-com boom]. Fortunes are again being made, sometimes by the same tech people who made fortunes the first time around. Extravagant valuations are being given to companies that didn’t exist yesterday. For all the similarities, however, there are many differences that could lead to a distinctly different outcome."

Computing

A First Look at Google’s Project Aura Glasses Built With XrealVictoria Song | The Verge

"Is it a headset? Smart glasses? Both? Those were the questions running through my head as I held Project Aura in my hands in a recent demo. It looked like a pair of chunky sunglasses, except for the cord dangling off the left side, leading down to a battery pack that also served as a trackpad. When I asked, Google’s reps told me they consider it a headset masquerading as glasses. They have a term for it, too: wired XR glasses."

Space

Bezos and Musk Race to Bring Data Centers to SpaceMicah Maidenberg and Becky Peterson | The Wall Street Journal ($)

"Bezos’ Blue Origin has had a team working for more than a year on technology needed for orbital AI data centers, a person familiar with the matter said. Musk’s SpaceX plans to use an upgraded version of its Starlink satellites to host AI computing payloads, pitching the technology as part of a share sale that could value the company at $800 billion, according to people involved in the discussions."

Biotechnology

Scientists Thought Parkinson’s Was in Our Genes. It Might Be in the WaterDavid Ferry | Wired ($)

"Despite the avalanche of funding, the latest research suggests that only 10 to 15 percent of Parkinson’s cases can be fully explained by genetics. The other three-quarters are, functionally, a mystery. 'More than two-thirds of people with PD don’t have any clear genetic link,' says Briana De Miranda, a researcher at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. 'So, we’re moving to a new question: What else could it be?'"

Curation